History

In the winter of 1902, the Rev. Peter McIntyre began to preach occasionally at Goshen Grove Crossroads in an open-air pulpit on a produce loading platform located beside the railroad tracks.

At the meeting of Wilmington Presbytery in June of 1903, a petition for the organization of a Presbyterian Church at Goshen Crossroads was given an affirmative vote, and a commission was appointed to organize the church with 16 charter members. The men of Goshen Grove all pitched in to raise a church building and accomplished this in only three months. Wilmington Presbytery met in this church for the first time in 1905.

An inheritance from Mrs. Nannie Cameron made it possible to build an educational building, which was dedicated on May 30, 1936 . A modern brick manse was completed in the spring of 1961, and the sanctuary was extensively remodeled in the late 1960s. Mr. Levi Cashwell’s estate enabled the church to furnish the parlor that bears his name in 1971. The Hervy Battle Kornegay Fellowship Hall was built in 1977-78. A church van was purchased in 1994 and has since been replaced by a newer van.

In September of 1996, Hurricane Fran caused a great deal of damage from the powerful winds and fallen trees. Even with the disaster of a tree through the roof of our Fellowship Hall and the loss of the beautiful old oak tree that stood beside the front walk, we found much for which to be thankful as we worked together to clean up the debris and make repairs. The children of Needham and Dorothy Sloan generously remodeled and furnished a part of the educational building to establish the Sloan Memorial Library in 1998. Major projects in 2002-2003 have been new landscaping, the installation of vinyl replacement windows, adding two new restrooms, and completing the accessibility of our buildings for the physically challenged. Presbyterian Women published their “Centennial Cookbook” in 2002 and used the profit to buy new furnishing for the parlor.

October 5, 2003 was a special Homecoming Day for members and friends of Calypso Presbyterian Church as we concluded a year of special activities celebrating 100 years as an organized church in the town of Calypso. The theme for the celebration was “Precious Memories”. In recent years, the Youth have taken an annual mission trip and had many wonderful experiences such as building houses, working in soup kitchens and conducting Bible School for underprivileged children. Calypso Presbyterian has participated in Habitat for Humanity, delivering meals for the elderly of the community, community Lenten lunches and the local Area Churches in Action clothing closet.

The addition of brass chandeliers, a new organ and a fresh paint job gave our sanctuary a new look. Then in 2009 our beautiful stained glass windows were added. These windows are arranged to tell the story of the life of Jesus with the two pulpit windows representing our Sacraments. They seem to symbolize that Calypso Presbyterians cherish their past, but also anticipate the future as we share Jesus Christ with each other, the community and the world.